The website Conservapedia defines a “liberal” as a person who “craves” more government and supports “the censorship and denial of Christianity.” Wow. Those people sound awful. Yet, I always thought a liberal was more like the Merriam-Webster definition: a person who is broadminded and “not bound by authoritarianism, orthodoxy, or traditional forms.”
Back in the summer of 2008, I drove across America and learned a lot about one famous liberal. On the morning of June 6, I left Sioux Falls, South Dakota and headed west on I-90 to Mount Rushmore, which is about 5 hours on the other side of the state. As ominous thunderstorm clouds loomed mid-morning, I made the serendipitous stop in Mitchell, a farming town of 12,000 and perhaps most famous as the home of the Corn Palace, a Moorish-style building with an exterior made entirely of corn. Mitchell also was – for many decades of his life – the home of South Dakota native, former U.S. Presidential candidate, longtime U.S. Senator, nutrition advocate and unapologetic liberal George S. McGovern.
Searching my non-satellite radio dial, I tuned in to South Dakota Public Radio just as it was interviewing the then-86-year-old, former Sen. McGovern on the anniversary of the 1968 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. 40 years and one day earlier, McGovern was among the last people to see Kennedy alive. Kennedy had been campaigning with McGovern to win the South Dakota presidential primary, which he did. Later that day, Kennedy flew to Los Angeles where he would be murdered some 24 hours later after winning the California primary. As I drove out of Mitchell, I listened to McGovern tearfully recount getting a telephone call in the middle of the night and learning that Bobby, with whom McGovern had just celebrated the day before on a South Dakota airport tarmac, had been assassinated. He spoke of his shock and grief, and described turning to Eleanor, his wife of 64 years, and how they wept for the Kennedy family and for the nation.
Who was this icon of American liberalism? McGovern was born in 1922 in the tiny farming town of Avon, South Dakota, the son of a Wesleyan Methodist minister, but grew up in nearby Mitchell. He was a shy kid who ran track and became a debate team champion, although he and his debate partner did lose one fateful competition to his future wife and her twin sister. He was patriotic. Upon hearing of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, McGovern and some college friends drove to Omaha, Nebraska, and enlisted. He would serve as a decorated fighter pilot during WWII, flying several missions over Germany.
McGovern earned a degree from Dakota Wesleyan University and his Ph.D. from Northwestern. Although not a farmer himself, throughout his life he was interested in food and nutrition and their connections to poverty. McGovern was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1957. Between 1961 and 1962, he served as President Kennedy’s Director of Food for Peace. In 1962, McGovern was elected to the U.S. Senate from South Dakota and would serve until 1981. During the Vietnam War, McGovern traveled there and became a very outspoken critic of the U.S.’s involvement, which infuriated many. That probably led to the fact that McGovern and his troubled running mate, Sen. Thomas Eagleton, lost the 1972 presidential election to Richard M. Nixon by one of the largest margins ever. He later served as President Clinton’s U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture.
Throughout his life, McGovern served as a champion for the poor and the hungry. He was inspired by his faith, his connection to the land and his desire to help his community and others in need. I don’t think he thought Christian and liberal were mutually exclusive at all. He had many friends across the aisle of politics even as they disagreed with him vehemently on policy positions. In short, this liberal from South Dakota was a hardworking family man who loved his state and his country and wanted to help people.
I personally think liberal is an excellent term.
